Jay LeonardA blogger needs to develop the skills of a drug dealer, a teacher and a chef .
The drug dealers make their product so good that after giving away their first free sample, their customers come back with the cash. They are savvy businessman, they know that if they give away something for free that they will develop loyal customers. Give away samples of your content for free.
A blogger also needs to act like a teacher and show people how to do things. Bigger brands don’t want to reveal their secrets in their articles. So as a blogger, if you can teach you will create a fan following and people will start showing up. One of the fastest growing segments on the web are “how to” articles, videos and blogs. So teach.
So why should a blogger be like a chef? Which chefs are famous? The ones who share everything they know. They write cookbooks that reveal exactly how they make that apple pie. They go on television and make a dish for all to see so everyone can copy it. So be prepared to reveal your recipes.
This blog is my cookbook.
Publishing is just the Start
Blogging involves many things but first have to create the content. It could be photos, videos or articles, but if you don’t tell the world you will continue to remain a secret. That is fine if that is what you want.
If you want to garner some attention and traffic then you have to market your blog. Don’t assume that readers and viewers will turn up by magic.
So what are some simple steps that many bloggers just forget or can’t be bothered to do?
Just about all of us have friends and followers on social networks. Some are only are on Facebook, but most have multiple social network accounts.
Dont be afraid to use those social media platforms to tell people that you have published your content on your blog.
#1. Facebook
As a blogger you will need to create a Facebook page for your blog. It doesn’t need to be complicated. If you haven’t got a Facebook page do it today. If you haven’t then tell your friends that you have published on your article by posting it to your personal page. Copy the blog article link and drop it into your “What’s on your mind?” status update box. Don’t be shy.
More reading: 20 Ways to Increase Your Facebook Likes
#2. Twitter
Twitter has been my most efficient platform for promoting my content. If you don’t have a Twitter account go and set one up now. It is not difficult, include a photo, a link to your blog and a short description of what your blog is about. Drop in your headline, your link and hit publish. There is one tool that I use to manage Twitter called Hootsuite which allows you to use the micro blogging platform very efficiently and is worth checking out once you have created a Twitter account.
More reading: 12 Keys to Success on Twitter
#3. Google+
Publish your article on Google+. Google+ is Google’s social network that is now one year old. If you haven’t registered on Google+ yet, I would strongly recommend you do. This social media account is now an important part of the social web (with over 250 million registered users) and should be included in your blog post article promotion process. It is not just a copy of Facebook and has its own customs and tribes. Google is also using Google+ to collect social signals on what people like and don’t like online and including this in its search results. This will become more important as time goes by for having your articles found in search.
More reading: Why you Shouldn’t Ignore Google+ Anymore
#4. Pinterest
For visual bloggers this is vital. Pinterest burst onto the screen about a year ago after flying below the radar. Pin you videos and images on your blog to your Pinterest account after publishing. It will help you make your content get shared which will then also link back to your blog from wherever it has been pinned.
More reading: 10 Creative Ways to Market on Pinterest
#5. LinkedIn
LinkedIn is very often ignored as a source to publish your content. It is especially powerful in the B2B market segments. If you have a look at the number of LinkedIn shares on this blog on various articles you will realize that it should be part of your marketing tactics. It is as simple as a Facebook update.
More reading: How to Harness the Power of LinkedI – Plus Infographic
Final Tips
Despite the popularity of social media and its shiny new toy attraction, I would strongly recommend that you do not forget two essential tactics. Firstly include an RSS subscription button on your blog so people can receive automatic notifications that your article has been published in their reader subscription platforms such as “Google Reader”
Lastly and most importantly making it easy for people to subscribe to your blog with an email subscription is still the most important blogger promotion platform today. Email may seem passe to some but building an email subscriber list and “list building” is a core asset that you should include from day one.
What about You ?
What tactics do you find useful to market and promote your blog. Is there anything you have forgotten. We can all do better.
Look forward to hearing your successes and stories.
Image by Leo Reynolds
This article was written for Business 2 Community by Jay Leonard.
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Great tips Jeff and thanks for sharing. I blog about the hotel industry and I pay a lot of attention to my WordPress analytics that show where my traffic is coming from. Although I market the blog on the social channels mentioned above I find my most receptive audience is referred through LinkedIn and other hospitality-related sites but Facebook and Twitter pale in comparison most likely because of my audience base.